Vehicle skins, such as composite wing skins used on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are often attached to an array or string of solar cells. In these devices, an encapsulated solar-cell string is directly or indirectly bonded to the composite skin after the skin has been constructed. The solar cells, for example, are commonly sandwiched between two layers of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) and then bonded to the skin, or bonded to the composite skin and then optically bonded to a layer of plastic, such as Mylar®. In either case, the resultant structure is relatively thick and heavy. These types of constructions are also often limited in size by the dimensions of the press used to construct the skin, or in curvature by the manner in which the solar cells are mounted to the surface of the skin.